Electeds call for end to gun violence after Corona mass shooting
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Democratic Nominee for Mayor Eric Adams and City Councilman Francisco Moya called for an end to gun violence after two shooters left 10 people injured in Corona on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Moya’s office
By Jacob Kaye
Elected officials across Queens and the city have called for an end to gun violence following a mass shooting in North Corona Saturday night that left 10 people injured.
While they all agree that the July 31 shooting near the intersection of 37th Avenue and 97th Street was tragic, they differ on how exactly the rise in gun violence in New York City should be quelled.
From better funding youth centers to take kids off the streets, to bringing back the NYPD’s plainclothes units, elected officials and candidates for office have weighed in on how to best drive down the city’s gun violence – shooting incidents have risen 18 percent in the first half of 2021, when compared to the first half of 2020, according to NYPD data.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, who called the attack “coordinated” at a press conference infront of Elmcor Youth Center on Sunday, said that investing in community centers is a powerful tool in driving down violent crime.
“We're also asking youth groups who have wraparound services for our kids to put in bids for money so that we can work with not-for-profits,” Katz said. “Because we can prosecute drivers of crime but the safest streets that you will have anywhere in this country is when our young people never end up in our court system to begin with, when there is no demand for guns and when folks are not buying them.”
“But we got to make sure that our kids, these individuals that are standing behind me, these children, that they don't end up in the court system and the only way we can do that is start before they end up in the criminal justice system at all,” she added.
Katz was joined by State Sen. Jessica Ramos and City Council Candidate Julie Won at the press conference, which was organized by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Ramos said that in addition to boosting funding for local community groups who provide safe spaces for kids, lawmakers must also go after the Iron Pipeline, the nickname for the sale of guns bought in the south and trafficked into New York.
“This is a tragic day for us here in our district,” Ramos said. “We don't want to see violence any time here or anywhere else, and violence will not and cannot be tolerated, here or anywhere else. But that's exactly the problem. There are too many guns in our streets”
“What we really need, above all, is cooperation from the federal government in ending the Iron Pipeline,” she added. “Most of the guns on our streets come from out of state, and we need more stringent background checks and we need much better control over who has access to these guns.”
The shooting broke out around 10:40 p.m. on Saturday when two men walked up 97-07 37th Ave., and began shooting into a crowd of people, according to the NYPD.
Two other men followed on mopeds and picked them up once they had finished shooting, video of the incident shows.
In all, 10 people, eight men and two women, suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds and were all taken to nearby hospitals in stable condition, cops said.
City Councilman Francisco Moya was joined by the Democratic nominee for mayor, Eric Adams, on Sunday at the scene of the shooting.
The NYPD patrolled 37th Avenue in Corona on Monday, Aug. 2, two days after a mass shooting left 10 people injured in the area. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
Moya advocated for more collaboration between the NYPD and the local community to help drive down the violence.
“I’m working to bring more opportunity for interventions to our neighborhood through Saturday Night Lights and Cure Violence,” Moya said in reference to NYPD community programs. “But we need help and we need to work with our local precinct to tackle this problem. Gun violence is plaguing the safety of our community, our children and our seniors. This needs to stop.”
Adams suggested the shooting may have been related to gang violence – neither the NYPD nor the DA have confirmed the shooting was gang related – and advocated for breaking up gangs as a way to bring the gun violence to an end.
“If you allow gangs to get a foothold in this city, we have a real problem – this is a crisis,” Adams said. “There are a small number of shooters and a small number of gun dealers that are providing the guns. It’s about focusing our attention on the shooters, focusing our attention on those who are providing the illegal guns in our city.”
Adams’ Republican challenger for mayor, Curtis Sliwa, agreed with his opponent, suggesting the violence will be stopped if the gangs are broken up.
Sliwa also advocated for the return of the NYPD’s anti-crime unit, which was disbanded last year amid anti-police violence protests. The unit was responsible for a disproportionate amount of NYPD shootings but was also credited with taking guns off the streets.
“There's been a growth of gang activity in the area,” Sliwa told the Eagle. “The response, I believe, has been weak because we don't have a strong New York City Police Department gang unit like we used to have.”
No arrests have been made and the investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
